Guitar World Blips goes dark

Guitar World Blips, the guitar blog aggragator that served as a news source and sounding board for guitarists all over the world has gone dark this week.  It was pretty abrupt, no warning, it was just gone.  They did have some spam problems recently but I don't see that as a reason to pull the site.

Guitar World Blips was a great way to get traffic to your guitar related blog. In turn, Guitar World got a lot of traffic to their site since they were a one stop guitar info feeding frenzy. In all fairness, Daily Radar was the operator of the site so it looks like Guitar World loses out here too.

There are still some places out there to get a good dose of guitar news.  Check out Gear Monster  They have a lot of the blogs that were on Guitar World Blips including RockGuitarLife.com.

Guitar Blog Roundup July 3rd

Happy 4th of July Weekend everyone. Here is this week’s roundup of my favorite posts from the guitar interwebz. 

Guitarren has some cool sketches of potential guitar designs. He’s done a few of these posts and each one has some really cool ideals.

Boutique Guitar Resource has a great post about a new guitar from builder Nado Bailo.  The Whale guitar is one awesome looking axe.

Guitar Noise has some great tips on playing live. If your goal is to perform guitar in front of people then this is a good place to read up on some of the necessary things to do to be successful

Guitar International has a review of the new documentary about famous rock photographer Robert Knight. He’s photographed all the big names for the past 40 years.

Guitar World has some behind the scenes video from their 2011 buyers guide shoot. 

Play a little guitar has some guitar nightmares for you to ponder. I think I may have lived through a few of these. 

Kiss and Sell

Nobody will deny that there is some great marketing behind KISS.  I’d bet even Gene and Paul sometimes have to think twice about some of the hype that has surrounded the band over the past 37 years.  Here are a few examples of KISS and it’s former members going outside the box a little in promoting something other than the band.

Ace Frehley-Dunkin Donuts. 

KISS – Pepsi

 

KISS-Dr. Pepper

 

KISS-Coca Cola

KISS- Hoiday Inn

Gene Simmons – Nike

Guitar Blog Roundup June 12th

Its the weekend and it’s time for a roundup of my favorite stories and posts from the guitar blog world.

Have a great weekend.

Mark Wein has a great post on fake pedal steel licks.  This is a great technique to have in your bag of tricks.

Guitarless has some info on how truss rods work. This is helpful for understanding what needs to be done to make an adjustment.

I heart guitar has a cool video about hacking a fuzz pedal. Nothing is more hackable than a good old fashioned fuzz pedal.

Guitar Collecting has some info on insuring your  guitar collection. We spend a lot of money on our gear so lets make sure we protect it.

Boutique guitar resource has a some great photos of a custom Frank Hartung guitar. This is a great looking axe.

Guitar Blog Roundup May 22, 2010

Let’s kick off the weekend with some of the great posts from the guitar blogosphere.

First, Musicosphere has a post on some of the coolest guitars I’ve seen in a while.

Truth in shredding has a post about making the right contacts. We all know it’s not what you know but who you know. 

Pointny Guitar has some nostalgia on hand with some flexi discs from the 80’s.

Gorehound Roots guitar tips has a great article which begs the question, do you own your gear or does your gear own you?

The Punch In has an excellent article on the history and evolution of the electric guitar.

Finally, Rock House method has some great practice tips for us.  Check them out.

Guitar Blog Roundup for May 15th 2010

It’s that time of week again.  Here are some of my favorite stories from the guitar blogs I read on a regular basis.

Stratoblogster has a real rarity.  A mid 80’s Schecter Hendrix Model.  This is before Schecter was made overseas and long before the ill fated Gibson attempt at a Hendrix Guitar.

Guitarnoize has a nice post about one of the coolest computer periferals I’ve seen.  What happens if you mate a computer mouse with a DS-1, check it out.

 Gear Vault has a review of the Epiphone Les Paul Studio Chameleon.

Profuzz has done some serious legwork here. They have a roundup of the top 30 YouTube guitar lesson channels.

300 Guitars has some tips for any of you DIY types.  Check out there article on working with printed circuit boards.

 The Fifth Fret has a great article on why companies should embraced bloggers.  I like the way Pappy thinks.

Guitar Blog Roundup May 1, 2010

Mark Wein Guitar Lessons has a great lesson on the Dorian and minor pentatonic scale. I have always loved the Dorian mode as an alternative when playing in a minor key.

Jemsite has a cool article on one man’s search for the tone in his head and the revelation he had when he found the Dimarzio Norton pickup.

 Fretterverse has a guest post by Sommatone Amps on guitar woods. This is quite a comprehensive article covering a lot of ground. A must read for tone junkies.

We have a duo of Jeff Beck videos this week. The Guitar Column has a video from the studio when Jeff was cutting a track for Jon Bon Jovi’s Blaze of Glory.

Not to be outdone, Stratoblogster has some video from Jeff Beck’s guitar tech. This guy gives up the goods on the guitar god.

 Effects bay has a post on designing pedals featuring a video from Wampler effects.  This shows Brian Wampler with a breadboard prototype.  Good stuff for all you circuit benders out there.

I Heart Guitar has created a guitar word search.  This may be the first time the words Alnico, Bigsby, or Fasal have appeared in a word search.  Then again, with words like Way Huge, Fuzz, Big Muff, and Rotovibe, this word search could be taken in a whole different way.

Guitar and Musician Podcasts

I have quite a long commute everyday.  I’ve been doing it for a while and it can become tedious.  I started listening to Podcasts to fill the time.  I have a few favorites but I am always trying new ones.  Here are the guitar and musician related podcasts that are always part of my commuting play list.

 

Six String Bliss

Pipes and PT are a couple of regular guys who happen to love guitar.  They took their passion to the web and started producing Six String Bliss. They have produces a whopping 180 episodes over the years.  The episodes vary from just the guys talking to product reviews to interviews with big name artists like Steve Vai or John 5.  If you have a passion for guitar go check out the bliss.  With a new episodes almost every week and a big archive of past episodes there is plenty of guitar talk for you to take in.

 

Boss Tone Radio

Boss Tone Radio is a podcast hosted by Paul Hansen, Boss product specialist.  The podcast is semi regular with a new episode every month or so.  Paul talks to artists from all genres from Paul Gilbert, to Keith Wyatt, to Oz Noy.  Now there is the “Hey, what Boss gear do you use” question in every podcast.  Lets face it, It is a bit of a commercial for the product.  Still, the interview contain lots of insight from some great guitarists.

 

Premier Guitar Podcasts

Premier Guitar is not only a great magazine, they post some pretty good podcasts too.  Being Premier Guitar the podcasts usually center around gear. From gear demos to interviews with boutique gear manufacturers as well as coverage of events like NAMM these podcasts are a good listen for any guitar freak.

 

CD Baby DIY podcast

The CD baby DIY podcast is a regular podcast geared toward independent artists.  The offer some good marketing tips, promotional tools, and sales strategies to help move your music and make some fans.  The roundtable discussions are often lively and have varying opinions on the topic being discussed.  I guarantee you will find something in one of these podcasts that will help you on your musical endeavor.

The Guitar Wall

Now I have to admit, when I stumbled across the sit called BigGuitarWalls.com I immediately thought of my days as a guitar salesman.  Literally a big wall full of hanging guitars.  Well, this is pretty much just that. A virtual wall of guitars.

The Big Guitar Wall allows a manufacturer or retailers to have lots of high quality pictures of multiple guitars on one page.  The cool part is when you mouse over one of those images, it brings up an enlarged image of that guitar.  You can also click on the wall to get to the manufacturer’s site.  I have to admit, I spent a fair amount of time just drooling  over the GMW Guitars wall. 

The user experience is pretty good.  You can take in a lot of cool images without having to click the next button on some slideshow.  That’s OK for a few images but The Guitar Wall lets you get a great high level view of a variety of images and highlight the ones you really dig.

This concept was born from the original Guitar Wall which has individual spaces for multiple manufacturer’s on one wall.  There are also Amp Walls, Effects Walls, and Chop Walls.

You can check them all out at TheGuitarWall.com

The Internet – Trash or Treasure

I was listening to podcast during my all too lengthy commute  today. The panel was talking about the newest fad on the web,chat roulette. This discussion led to the question, is there anything redeeming on the internet?  The information super highway has all but become a giant cesspool filled with pornography and stupidity.  Hmm… I wonder where these guys are hanging out when their surfing.

It got me thinking though.  While there is more than enough silliness and filth on the Web, there is also an amazing amount of great content and information.  I think in reality, the smut and schoolyard shenanigans have always existed it’s just that The Internet gave it a way to flourish just as it has all the great sites and content out there.

I think about my own Internet usage.  I read the news via RSS feeds from reputable new sources.  I entertain myself with YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix.  I pay my bills online, pay my taxes  online, and I communicate online.  The Internet has given us the ability to do amazing things to simplify, and sometimes complicate our lives.

Music superfans

We all know that person who is an extreme fan of some group of artist. The person with all the posters. The person who saves all the ticket stubs from the concerts.  The person who has the bio of the artist embedded in their brain.  Most of us like a certain type of music or artist but these superfans go way beyond the call of duty.

I think of the scene in Rock Star where Mark Whalberg’s character gets in an argument with a rival tribute band stating that his jacket isn’t correct citing that the stitching and lapels are wrong.  Every time I see that scene I kind of cringe.  I mean, is it really that important to know all the details?

So where am I going with this?  I guess my question is, do these superfans prove that music can truly touch a person that deeply or are these fans just a little off center and looking for something to gravitate too.  Musicians certainly don’t want to offend their fans but at the same time you have to think “get a life” right?

There are those Deadheads who travel the country, there are parrot heads who are constantly looking for Margaritaville, and there are those tribute band guys who try to capture every nuance of an artist and replicate it albeit on a smaller stage. I guess it’s just something that really connects to them.

I’m not trying to knock anyone here, I just wonder where the line is between Fan, super fan, or stalker.

Train kept a rollin…

I know gigs are hard to come by these days.  The recession has hit live music hard.  Musicians have to be creative these days to get their music heard.  Well this is a very interesting idea.  Rock your tunes on a commuter train.

thetraintracks.org is a site where live performances captured on a train are viewed and voted on.  There is a new performance each week. It appears that his is sponsored by the metro Phoenix light rail although I’m not sure..  I guess this is an attempt to encourage people to ride the train.  In return, the riders get some music. 

My favorite is Mikel Lander and Meredith Moore of the Sugar Thieves.  She’s got a fantastic voice and he tears it up on the dobro.  I would love to listen to them while commuting to work.

Check out the rest of the videos here

 

Scott

Rock and Roll takes to the highway

The road is a part of rock and roll. Touring, hotels, thousands of miles in a van or tour bus are just part of the life. Taking your show on the road is the best way to get your music to the people. Well now there is a real "Rock and Roll highway".

Legislation was signed by Gov. Mike Beebe on March 20 designating U.S. 67 "Rock 'N' Roll Highway 67." This newly named stretch of pavement promises some tourist dollars for the state of Arkansas. The road was well traveled by rock and roll legends Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and other greats from the early days of the volatile music and the state is planning to capitalize on that.

If ever there was a perfect location for a Hard Rock Cafe, the side of Highway 67 would be it.

Read the full Article here

The Presidential Guitar, sort of.

Wow, I’m impressed.  Michelle Obama giving a Gibson as a gift.  I won’t get into politics here, but when the first lady is giving guitars as gifts it get’s my attention.

Maybe this is the wave of the future.  International policy will be hashed out only after a proper jam session.  Maybe a little 12 bar blues to break the ice with foreign dignitaries.  This could be something.

Music is an international language.  I’d like to see more of this in the future.   How cool would it to se government contracts given to guitar companies instead of defense contractors.

You can read the full article here

Scott

The importance of a good band photo

Band photos are a staple in the music industry.  It let’s people see what the band looks like.  It helps market the artists.  If you are an up and coming artist you don’t have the luxury of a pro photographer, backdrops, lighting,makeup, etc..

Having said this, I would encourage every band to make the effort to produce a good band photo.  I know it can be difficult but in the age of digital photography you can take hundreds of shots allowing you to choose the best.

This will only help you when you are making up flyers and putting up a website.  The most important reason to have a good band photo however is because you don’t want it to end up at the RRC hall of douche bags.

 

Man there are some bad pictures there.  I haven’t look through them all yet, I hope I’m not in there.

Scott

Six String Bliss crashes through the big screen

It sounds like a movie plot.  Two guitar enthusiasts from the Midwest enlist the help of their friends from all over the internet to produce an epic album. A Cinderella story to be sure.  An tale of the small town underdog with a dream, who despite all the setbacks and pitfalls, still beats the odds.  Well it’s not a movie plot (yet).

Pipes and PT over at Six String Bliss, the longest running guitar podcast on the planet, have enlisted their “Blisseners”  to produce an album of popular movie songs called Big Screen Bliss From classics to modern to the avante garde, all genres were covered in this venture into Hollywood’s music.

The production qualities vary from the average home recording to semi pro, to professional sounding tracks.  The best part is, it’s free.

Go on over to Six String Bliss and check it out.

Scott

we're officially a dot com

Wow, Rockguitarlife.com is a reality. What started as a personal blog containing my ramblings about Rock and Roll, guitars, life, whatever is now Rockguitarlife.com. I will continue my ramblings but will also include cool tips, licks,some product reviews, who knows maybe even a video or two. Stay tuned because Rock and Roll does not take a vacation!!

Scott

Free promotion tools

A big part of being an independent artist or band is the endless self promotion. You need to get your music to people and you don't have a team of professionals to do it. The music part is easy but the website, flyers, press kits are difficult to put together if you don't have the design background or resources.

I have found a few free tools and articles to help you in the promotion of your band. These tools will assist you in putting together a great looking kit, some top notch flyers, and some great photos.

Create cool photo's with Loonapix. I'm sure you already have band pictures and the standard group shot is a necessity but how about a few cool shots for the website or a flyer. Just upload your picture, select the effect or frame you want and in an instant you have a cool looking picture you can download to your PC.

Don't have a logo? Maybe you just want some cool text with your band or website name without having to go to a graphic artist. Try some of these online logo generators.

I created the text below with the Web 2.0 free logo generator. It's pretty basic but it does look good. Great for a bumper sticker or a CD cover.

This one was done with Cool Text. Again the logo itself is simple but the color and font options are pretty cool

Lastly, I found these articles on what to include in your press kit. I thought they were informative. We're musicians not professional promoters so we need all the help we can get.

http://mediawebsource.com/presskit.htm

http://www.getsigned.com/presskits.html

Scott